


Royal Issue

by Wenzel



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 16:29:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11421783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wenzel/pseuds/Wenzel
Summary: Altean pregnancies might be a bit odd, but Allura is still Allura.(Fluffy little fic about Allura's first pregnancy!)





	Royal Issue

Keith Kogane of Altea hadn’t realized, when he’d married Allura, that there would be the problem of  _ royal issue _ as Coran fondly called it. Fatherhood had always been a remote idea, something to be contemplated with a shrug and tentative agreement that, yes, he’d probably marry a woman and yes, he’d probably have children.

When they married, that shrug had become immediate concern to Coran and every ally of the Altean Alliance. Keith was now a prince to Allura’s queen-- the legalities had the title escaped him, but he’d been reassured that no, he wouldn’t have to act as king-- and as Allura was from an exquisite lineage, many believed that any childbearing or child-rearing problems must come from the halfbreed Terran-Galran. 

Lance thought the entire affair hysterical. “It’s all Keith’s fault,” he sing-songed whenever a foreign dignitary asked after the future royals. Hunk would shush Lance when, as usually happened, the dignitary looked stricken. 

“Is he… barren?” one dignitary had asked. 

Allura had choked on laughter as Keith slowly slumped in on himself. “No,” she said. “It is simply a matter of time.”

They’d talked, long before marriage, about having kids. Allura took everything with a practical mind: if she and Keith were to continue dating, there had to be an end goal. And the end goal, in their case, involved children. “I’m not overly fond of children,” she’d admitted. “They’re messy, loud, and hard to please. Are you… skilled with them?”

“No,” he’d said. “I can learn, though.” That was his role. He was the Black Paladin, one of the best pilots alive, leader of Voltron, right hand to Queen Allura, prince, and future father. When Shiro vanished, he’d taken on the mantle of Black Paladin relatively certain he wouldn’t last the week. But it’d been necessary, just like it was necessary to continue the Altean royal family. 

Keith knew, too, that he wanted to be a father. Despite his fears, he enjoyed the presence of children. They were curious, kind, and loving. Even when inclined to chaos, they-- when allowed to be themselves-- meant well. Keith didn’t have any illusions about sleepless nights, dirty diapers, or temper tantrums. He’d seen enough of it in foster homes. But he’d endured combat for years, and he knew people would be willing to help if it became too much.

He’d told Allura that. She’d smiled at him, relief visible. She’d lost almost everything of what she’d known-- only the crown, memories, and a scattered diaspora of Alteans remained. Continuing on the Altean royal family’s line preserved those memories and brought together what remained of Altea. It meant more to Allura than simple children.

When Allura came to him with the news, he’d been thrilled. He’d showered her with kisses, though he hadn’t dared lessen her schedule or force ‘quiet time’ on her. She’d throw him out an airlock if he had, and he wouldn’t be able to say he didn’t deserve it. In place of overbearing protectiveness, he did what he could. He made sure she ate. He dealt with the most annoying ambassadors so she could take some time for herself. He supplied her with new books, comfortable blankets, and little treats in the evening. He liked to think of his actions as simply making her life more comfortable. She knew her limits more than he did. 

All the noble reasons in the world didn’t make the pregnancy less strange, though. Altean biology baffled him. Pregnancy, he’d been told, lasted eight months. It involved Allura swelling everywhere, not just around the stomach and feet. He accepted it with no comment until the blue spots appeared. When he’d woken in bed with her and seen them, he’d been convinced she’d come down with a space disease. 

“Allura,” he’d murmured. He’d pressed a hand against her forehead. It was as warm as it was meant to be. “Honey, you’re  _ blue _ .”

She’d been thrilled when she saw the spots. “It means the pregnancy’s taken hold,” she said over a meal of food goo French toast, courtesy of Hunk. She yawned, her jaw cracking as she looked at him bleary-eyed. “It bodes well, Keith. You can stop looking so perturbed!”

His only consolation came in everyone else’s shocked looks when Allura turned up in the Castle’s helmsroom bespeckled. “That’s… supposed to happen?” Lance asked. He shared a look with Hunk.

Coran beamed at him. “Back on Altea, we used to count the spots! Superstition said that the number could predict the child’s personality.” He paused. “Not that I’ll be doing it to you, Princess--”

“Thank you, Coran,” Allura said dryly, though she smiled at him. “We should talk about names. I never studied the naming practices of the royal family enough.” They’d paired off as Pidge searched for the signal they were chasing.

“I hope you know what you’ve signed up for,” Lance had murmured to him in private. “I talked to Coran, and things get weirder from here on.”

Weirder put it mildly. Allura emitted quintessence when she slept-- little sparks that snapped against Keith’s skin and ripped him from sleep. Her hair took on a soft glow, far beyond its usual luminescence. Her natural musk sweetened to something unnatural. Hunk described it in private as maple syrup-like, and Keith agreed.

Her belly swelled far faster than a pregnant human’s. When they slept together-- because Keith refused to abandon her to sleep alone, despite the quintessence sparks-- he swore he could hear a murmuring song. Was it something physical, or was it the quintessence’s work? Or worse: had he gone mad? He didn’t ask. He didn’t want to make Allura awkward. 

The baby first kicked when they were in bed. Allura lay against pillows as she read a book, while Keith went over reports. She gasped; her hand flew to her stomach, and Keith darted close, steadying her. “Are you all right?” he asked. “Do you need a doctor?”

“I’m fine,” she said. She took his hand and placed it against her belly. When the baby kicked, he felt his eyes widen. His mouth turned to a wide ‘O’. Allura laughed. The sound coaxed the baby into another kick. “Four months left, Keith.”

He laid back, offering his chest for her to lay on. Pregnancy had softened her body, and he held her close when she rested against him. He stroked her hair as she breathed deep, as though taking in the enormity of what changed her body. “Four months,” he echoed. “It’ll go by faster than you think.”

“I hope so,” Allura said. “I don’t mind the child. I know I’ll love them, even if I won’t enjoy the messy parts of childhood. But everything is tiring, I can’t fight, and my body is changing.” She reached for her upper arm and squeezed. Bloat and fat layered over muscle. “I feel like the Castle’s goo sewn into a bag.”

Keith contemplated her arm. Then he kissed it lightly. Allura laughed and pulled away before she burrowed her way deeper into his side. He arranged the blankets around her. “I like you--”

“I’d hope so,” was the muffled reply. 

Keith snorted. “I mean that I love you, whatever your body is like. If you’re food goo in a bag, I love you. If you’re working out like Shiro, I love you. You’re not happy with how you look. I know me saying I love you won’t change that. But bodies are… They’re  _ malleable _ . Some things are permanent, but I promise, you’ll be able to bench press me again within a year.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Her pointed ears twitched at his touch. “You want to watch a movie, or just cuddle?”

She chose cuddling. She tended to, through the coming months. Bed came earlier and earlier, and Shiro helped Keith pick up the smaller duties. “I need to review the scout reports on the border,” she’d say. Keith would take the reports and read them aloud to Allura. She’d fall asleep, he’d take quick notes on the reports, and she would read them over in the morning. Shiro and Coran took on the maintenance tasks involved in upkeep of the Castle and Lions. 

The final month brought a final decision on names. If it was a boy, his name would be Adan. If a girl, Alya. “There are other names,” Allura said, “to go with it, but I see this as a reborn dynasty. Simplicity in trying times.”

Coran approved of the names, and he cried when he found out the child would carry one of his own-- Hieronymus-- though he tried to hide it. Lance tried to argue that any son should carry his name too, for ‘good luck’, but he was swiftly reined in by Hunk. 

The birth began as they waited for clearance to visit a foreign planet Allura wanted to entice into the Altean Alliance. Everyone had been staring at their screens, some checking the news, others watching communication feeds, and Coran monitoring the Castle’s output. Allura gasped, sharp and high, and turned the sound into a low hiss as she grasped her belly. 

“Now?” Keith asked, though he was already on his feet.

Allura nodded stiffly. “Now.” Everyone crowded around her.

Keith took her hand and braced her body against his. “You’re almost free,” he murmured to her.

“And now your sentence begins,” she shot back. He heard the relief in her voice. He mirrored it: Allura’s patience had run out weeks ago for the entire process. In rare moments, he found her singing to the baby, cooing to it, talking about the things she’d teach the child. She loved the baby, for what it was and who it would be. But she despised pregnancy, and Keith understood why. 

“It’ll be worth it,” he said. “And I promise you’ll never have to change a diaper.”

She laughed as they hobbled into an elevator. The others hurried around them, making calls and preparing the doctor they’d brought onboard weeks ago. “I knew there was a reason I loved you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me at the-wenzel.tumblr.com!


End file.
